Love Like Kings
by syranzra
Summary: AU in which the Sacred 28 are considered nobility, the Malfoys are royalty, and the Weasleys have been stripped of their titles for being 'blood-traitors'. Written for the Monthly One-Shot Challenge on HPFC. Dedicated to user MaryandMerlin.
1. Prologue: Grass

"Gather around everyone, don't be shy!" Professor Snelling was probably the most upbeat Potions Master Hogwarts had ever seen, flitting around at the front of the class in bright yellow robes that absolutely did not match the aesthetic of a Hogwarts Dungeon. She waved the students closer, a grin on her face so wide it made her smile lines turn white against her pink cheeks. It was nearing the end of their sixth year, and she wanted to give them all a taste of next year's curriculum, to get them excited enough to take her class again next year. "That's it, come on up. Don't lose your partners now! Alright. Now," she sang as she slipped her wand into her robes with one hand, and swept the lid off a pink cauldron with the other, "can anyone tell me what this is?"

Steam spiraled up from the cauldron, and just like that, the usual suspects were rendered virtually useless. Rose Granger-Weasley could have guessed it from a mile away. Scorpius Malfoy would have recognized it, if it wasn't right in front of him, pushing his attention elsewhere. Fred Weasley II knew all about that distinctive, mother-of-pearl sheen. Even Gwendoline Avery knew Amortentia when she saw it. Yet while the other students remained enthralled in the lesson, four of the best students in class had checked out the moment that scent hit their noses.

Rose tried her best not to look at the platinum blond next to her as she took in the smell of overgrown grass on a crisp summer's day, which surrounded her almost a year ago when she tackled him to the ground and sent them rolling down the hill until they lay laughing, eyes bright in the sun. She shuddered at the smell of parchment, which brought with it visions of late night study sessions and meetings they never mentioned afterward. Then there was the scent of fire; she closed her eyes against those memories.

Gwen bit her lip at the smell of the rain-soaked ground, which she leapt from to catch his broom. She avoided eye contact with the curly haired boy across from her, unable to resist the scent of custard, which was present in so many of his father's joke products. When she smelled licorice, her fingers twitched, and she clasped her hands together behind her back.

Fred inhaled deeply, and with every breath he drank in freshly cut grass, Otters Fizzy Orange Juice, and wood - the kind that his old broom was made of, the one he used to sweep her off her feet. He didn't bother to hide the way his eyes drifted toward the dark haired girl across from him, or the way he leaned into the smell of her as it surrounded him. His eyes found hers just before they flicked away, and he was so lost in her face he hardly even noticed the tall blond boy standing next to her, with his arm around her shoulders.

Scorpius nearly choked on the smell of hay, just the kind that littered the owlery the night they had their first real conversation, just the two of them. He cleared his throat, nostrils flared, and stared at his feet as he took in the scent of cinnamon-sprinkled hot cocoa. His arm tightened around the dark haired girl beside him as he breathed in the salty scent of the sea. All the while, he wouldn't let his gaze stray to the redhead on his other side.

It wasn't until Albus wedged his way between the lot of them and called out the answer that those four students snapped out of their dazes. For the rest of class, none of them would look at each other, but each one was caught staring while the other wasn't.

The entire summer before their seventh year passed without any of them telling a soul.


	2. Chapter 1: What do I know?

"What do you mean, there's two of us?" Rose all but flinched at the squeak in her own voice.

"I'm sure there's a good explanation," Gwen spoke calmly, quietly. Rose wished she had such control over her tone.

"Ro- Miss Weasley, Miss Avery, please. Sit." Headmaster Longbottom sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "The last thing McGonagall did before retiring was appoint Head Girl and Head Boy, and I'm afraid I must agree with her decision. The number of students in this school has nearly doubled over the past few years, and as such, the expanding of student government is a crucial step toward helping us keep the school safe and under control, while also awarding students with good behavior and letting you experience more responsibility before you are thrust into the adult world. Besides, this way, each house has a Head Student to represent them, along with the Head of House." The girls stared at him in silence, although their brains were screaming. The headmaster sighed again. "Each of your house common rooms has a door which will transport you to the Head Dorms, where you will share a common room with the other heads, and a room with each other. Please-" he cut off their protests with a wave of his hand, "-just try to make it work. I've already had this discussion with both Head Boys, and they've agreed to try. Do you think you can, too?"

Rose chewed her lip. Gwen seemed to be making calculations in her head, thumb touching each of her fingertips in turn as though she were counting behind her own back. Rose narrowed her eyes.

"I must warn you," he continued, "saying no will mean giving up your position in student government. I don't want to have to find someone else to fill it, but if you don't think you can cut it-"

"I can," the girls said in unison. They stared at each other in shock for a split second before flicking their eyes back to the professor in front of them. He smiled.

"Very well. See you two when school starts. I trust you to make it a good year."

* * *

Gwendoline rested her forehead against the window of the Hogwarts Express, and though her eyes reflected the blur of passing scenery, all she saw was a memory playing over in front of her for the third time that day.

 _"Run away with me."_

 _The words were whispered into the wind, swirled through the air like a spell the sunset cast._

 _"You know very well I can't do that," Gwen sighed, cheek pressed to Fred's shoulder._

 _He ran his fingers through her hair. "Why not?"_

 _"Because I'm going to be Queen one day. I can't run from that."_

 _"Yes," he insisted. "You can."_

 _"No, I can't." She laughed, but it was out of sorrow. "I can't just... flee, from my responsibilities because I'm in love with some-"_

 _"You're in love with me." His eyes shone almost as brightly as his smile._

 _"I-" Gwen let out an exasperated sigh. "Shut up."_

 _"You know," he said, after a few too many moments of silence, "love can change the world in a moment." Her eyes wouldn't meet his. "But what do I know?" When she said nothing in response, he cleared his throat and stood. His arms felt cold without her in them. "So this is it, then?" Fred's throat tightened around the words._

 _As much as she wanted to jump up and throw her arms around him, she couldn't bring herself to stand. As much as she wished she could take his hands and run right into the sunset like the end of some sappy muggle movie, she feared her knees would give out. She laced her fingers together and pulled her legs to her chest. "I suppose it is."_

 _His lips trembled, aching for hers, but he clenched his now clammy hands into fists. She continued to stare into the horizon until the sun had burned into her eyes, so all she could see was white light; and when her eyes closed, spots. Spots, instead of his smile. Her eyes did not open until she heard him start to walk away. "I'll miss you," she blurted out._

 _He scoffed. "Right..." He shook his head. She looked at him, and winced at the sharpness of his eyes. "Well. I'll be loving you, Avery."_

Scorpius's arm falling around her shoulders pulled her from her daydreaming just in time to stop her from watching Fred walk away; but it didn't stop her from thinking about how they had never even said goodbye. Not really. Not in so many words.

"Are you okay?" Silver eyes peered into blue ones. His breath tickled her cheek.

"Hmm. Just tired," she said, offering a small smile. He gave her a knowing look, but let both the topic and his arm drop. His fingers linked with hers, squeezing slightly.

"We'll get through this," he whispered, barely loud enough to hear, just before the sliding door opened.

Into the prefects' compartment walked Rose and Fred Weasley, who settled on the opposite bench seat in silence. Gwen's neck itched; she could feel Fred's eyes on her, but refused to look over. No one said a word until the Prefect meeting, and the moment it was over, Rose got up and left.

* * *

It took two whole days for Fred to reach the end of his rope. The rest would have been perfectly fine ignoring each other (or so they told themselves); but he made it impossible by dragging them out of their hiding spots to sit before him on the couch in their shared Head Common Room. "This is ludicrous. We can't keep pretending not to be in this situation-" before Rose could pipe up, he shot her a look that made her press her lips together in silent protest, "-we have to do what's best for the school, which means working together. Any objections?" The set of his jaw made it obvious that objections would not be tolerated. They grumbled in reluctance. "Great! Malfoy, you and Rose can go do rounds together. Avery, stay here and we can sort out the mess that is our current Prefect Schedule."

"But-" Rose started, eyes wide. She never got a chance to finish. Malfoy had practically leapt out the door already, and her cousin looked like he might hex her. She dragged her feet out of the common room, hand clenched tight around her wand. When the entrance disappeared behind her, Scorpius was already several feet away.

"Come on, Red," he called back in a tone she couldn't read.

"Don't-" She clenched her jaw, quickly catching up to him despite the wide gap in their heights. "Don't call me that," she snapped. They continued in silence, while Rose tried not to think about the last time they were left alone.

 _"I win," Rose announced, pinning the blond boy to the ground. She bit her tongue between her teeth to keep from laughing outright._

 _Scorpius didn't suppress his chuckle, but it was quiet, soft... warm, like the look that had slowly overtaken his face. "You always do."_

 _"Ha! That's right." She leaned closer, narrowing her eyes and smiling at him. "So you finally admit it, then?"_

 _His eyes flicked to her lips. Just as her cheeks turned pink, his soft look turned to a mischievous smirk. Before she could register the change, he flipped them over. "I admit nothing."_ _She growled at him, but all venom had disappeared from the sound as she bucked her hips to get him off. It didn't work. His fingers laced with hers, and slid her arms above her head. He nodded his head, tip of his nose just barely brushing hers before he lifted his head a few inches. "What was that about winning?"_

 _"This isn't over yet," she grumbled, legs hooking behind his to get leverage. He didn't resist. Odd. She shook her head to rid herself of the thought as soon as she felt her ears heating up again. He tilted his head at her, silver eyes peering far too deeply into hers. In a moment of panic, to keep him from reading her mind somehow, she used his hands as leverage to throw her head up, and licked his nose._

 _"Ohh, no!" he laughed, turning his head. In that position, he couldn't quite rub his nose on his shirt, so -without thinking- he rubbed his nose on the shoulder of her shirt. Though he later told himself he'd imagined it, he heard her gasp; and in a moment of weakness, his face ended up nuzzled into her neck. Though she later told herself that it had been nothing, she felt him kiss her throat before his cheek pressed to hers. She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them, his gaze was flicking between her features. Their foreheads rested against each other briefly, their lips brushed..._

 _"SCOR!"_

 _They jumped apart, Scorpius landing on his back beside her with a thud and a groan. Rose took deep breaths, trying to steady her pulse. In the distance, Albus waved his arms at them wildly, a piece of parchment in his hand. "YOUR FATHER'S SENT AN OWL! LOOKS IMPORTANT!"_

 _Rose cleared her throat, and got up first. Scorpius spent a few seconds staring at her, red head practically glowing against the sunset, before reaching for her hands. She helped him up, but immediately dropped his hands and crossed her arms over her chest. He frowned. They walked back to the Weasley-Potter house in silence, but she couldn't help the careful glances she gave him as he read the letter - the letter that changed everything - and wished she knew what it said. "I have to go," he told them, and while both Albus and his cousin were disappointed, he was the only one who actually expressed it._

 _After everyone else had said their goodbyes, Scorpius caught Rose as she was trying to sneak away. He mussed her hair and held her chin in his fingers briefly, smirking at her. "Later, Red."_

 _She rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that," she said, but there was no malice in the tone, and her lips pressed together in a thin smile. She stepped around him to go upstairs, but didn't miss the way he winked at her. She heard the floo not even a minute later._

Okay, so, she failed. That didn't mean anything, though - right? It was a strange day, of course she'd think about it. Besides, she'd never figured out what on earth was in that letter, or what happened that made him blatantly ignore her for the next two years. It wasn't like she needed to continue whatever it was that they had started that day. No, she just needed answers; answers, instead of the silence that had turned her curiosity to bitterness, and bitterness to resentment, resentment to rage. They'd never really been friends, Weasley and Malfoy; though they had a mutual friend in Potter, they'd been more rivals than anything else. Still, she'd never hated him nearly as much as she did now. She'd never had reason to be this angry at him. Maybe she didn't now, either, but she refused to think about that possibility.

Even now, the silence around them was so thick it could choke a wizard. The problem with silence, though, was that the longer it went on, the more difficult it became to find anything to say.

* * *

"I do love you, Gwen!" Scorpius shouted, spinning in his seat so that he could watch his fiance as she paced. "What has gotten into you today?"

"Nothing!" she snapped, then jerked back, as though she'd startled herself. With a heavy sigh, she sat on her bed, while Malfoy blinked at her. "I know you love me. And, of course, I love you, Scor, but-" she huffed. His eyebrows knit together. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, but he hoped he was wrong. "But you're not _in love with_ me." His stomach churned.

He took a deep breath. "What brought this on?"

She didn't answer him. Instead, she took his face in her hands and gave him a wet smile. "You're not. Are you?"

He couldn't look her in the eye. He pulled his face away from her. "What do you want me to say? You're my best friend. No-"

"Oh, don't look so guilty," she cut him off with a laugh that wasn't happy, although maybe, somehow, slightly happy-adjacent. "You don't need to feel bad, Scor, you're not the only one. We've been friends since we were kids and I've never felt anything romantic for you."

"Gee, thanks," he mumbled.

Gwen gave a slow sigh, then wrapped her arms around him and pressed her forehead to his. After a while, she started again, though she was far from yelling now. "So, what do we do?"

"What we've been doing," he told her. "Stick together. As I was saying, nobody expects us to fall in love right away, that's not the point. Our marriage was arranged to make our families stronger, together." She gave him a look full of doubt, and something else he couldn't quite read, but before she could protest, he put a finger to her lips. "My parents weren't in love when their marriage was arranged, either. It took - well, I don't know how long, exactly, but they got there. And they're happy."

"Are they, though?" she whispered.

He bit his lip. "What else would you have us do?"

Before she could answer, the door opened, and in walked none other than Rose Weasley. She froze in her tracks, staring at them, too surprised in that moment to hide her emotions. Gwendoline wasn't looking at Rose, though; she was too busy seeing something on Scorpius's face that she had never seen before. It was brief, as he recovered from his surprise much faster than Rose did, but it was there. That was when she knew: she wasn't the only one whose heart already belonged to someone else.

Rose cleared her throat and averted her eyes, stormed over to the other bed, shuffled around in her things for a minute or so, then stomped back to the door. Avery couldn't help but notice that Scorpius's eyes never left the red-headed girl's back. She paused at the door, but all she said before leaving was, "I don't think the boys are allowed in here, by the way." The couple exchanged looks. Gwen kissed Scorp's cheek, he kissed her forehead, and then he sauntered out of the room after Rose. Gwen decided to go to bed early that night, without dinner.


	3. Chapter 2: Green

It was a week later when Gwen finally built up the courage to pound on the door to the Head Boys' dorm, knowing full well that Scorpius and Rose were out practicing with the rest of the Slytherin and Gryffindor quidditch teams, respectively. A bleary eyed Fred opened the door only after the fourth round of knocking. He blinked a few times, slowly, then scratched the back of his head. "Am I dreaming?" he mumbled.

"I have a plan," Gwen blurted out. She was breathing way too fast, like she'd run there from the Great Hall or something.

Fred raked his eyes over her - disheveled hair, heaving chest, robes in disarray - and cleared his throat. "Sorry?" He tore his eyes from her and leaned against the door frame, forearm supporting most of his upper body weight. "What're you talkin' about, love?"

"A way that we can be together." The words tumbled from her mouth so quickly, he was sure he hadn't heard her right. "Without upsetting the whole of British Nobility." Now he was sure he had to be dreaming. Her eyes searched his, waiting for him to say something. When he didn't, she could swear she felt her heart stop, only to then double its previous speed. "Well? Aren't you going to ask what it is?"

He blinked again. "If you're joking, Avery, this is a whole new level of cruel I never thought you could reach."

"What?" she snapped, breathlessly. "No, of course not. How could you think I would do something like that? Fred, I-"

His lips were on hers before she knew what was happening. His arm wrapped around her waist, he held her close and poured over a year of pent up feelings into a kiss that lasted mere seconds before she came to her senses and broke it. He kept his eyes closed, afraid to find anything negative on her face. "Well, that certainly felt real..." he half-joked under his breath. "Think you could pinch me, just to be sure?"

She laughed quietly, and pinched his cheek until he smiled. "We can't keep doing that, though." He opened his eyes, and she flinched at the pain in them. "Not yet." His brow furrowed. "I- Scorpius and I _are_ still engaged, technically." She swept her thumb across his lips when he scowled at her. "I don't want to betray his trust. But, he doesn't love me, not like that - and I have a plan, because I happen to know who he _does_ love. At least, I think I do... No, I'm sure of it. I know him well enough to know what I saw." She nodded, having re-convinced herself, but Fred was still left in the dark.

"Uh... okay? Merlin, I'm starting to think this is a dream again, because you're not making any sense."

She took a deep breath, sorting through her thoughts. "Okay. Right. Sit with me, yeah?" He nodded warily, and let her lead him to the couch in the Head's common room. "If I ran away with you, or even broke it off with Scorpius - it just couldn't work. I'd be deserting my claim to the throne - my family would never let that happen; and on top of that, I'd be hurting Scorpius, leaving him to look a fool, having been betrayed by his former fiance and supposed life-long best friend. It'd be a huge scandal, and on top of that, we probably wouldn't even get away with it! I mean, Scorpius might be reasonable, but the Malfoys as a whole - _especially_ his grandparents - they wouldn't stand for it! They'd hunt us down, quite likely strip my family of their titles..." She paused, remembering that Fred already knew what that was like. She bit her lip. His eyes had hardened.

"Go on."

After a few more deep breaths, Gwen continued. "But if Scorpius Malfoy, Crown Prince of Wizarding Britain, were the one to break it off... Well, they couldn't punish me for that, could they? And Scorpius couldn't be in trouble, either - he's their only heir, they'd have to go along with it."

"Okay..." Fred stretched out the word dubiously. "But why would he do that? He agreed to marry you for a reason. You're the best choice for the crown, as much as I hate to admit it. You'd make a great queen, Avery."

She frowned - why was he still calling her by her last name? She shook it off, though, determined to see this through. "Because he's in love with someone else." Fred lifted his eyebrows at her. "And we're going to make him see how important that is."

* * *

"You look good in green." Scorpius sauntered up to Rose with his signature smirk on his face. Her ears were like quickly-ripening tomatoes.

"If you say that one more time..." she growled. She was going to kill Wood for this. It was bad enough that he bet on their first game against Slytherin; the fact that he lost it was worse; the fact that he dragged the entire team into the ordeal was downright unforgivable.

"You'll what?" he teased, eyes sparkling.

"I-" she paused. They'd been sharing a living space for two months, and this was the first conversation they'd had that lasted more than two sentences. It was also the first time he'd looked at her like that in at least a year. Unsure of what that twinge in her chest could mean, and unwilling to ponder it further, she bit the inside of her lip. "I'll hex you into next week."

"I'd love to see you try," he laughed, leaning his shoulder against the wall.

Rose tugged at the hem of her dress, which was emerald green and made of fabric she was sure had been bewitched to cling to her like a second skin while feeling like it wasn't even there at all. Why Wood had this thing on hand, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Her eyes flicked over Scorpius's face one last time, intending to shoot back some equally teasing remark, but the way he smiled made her stomach twist. What was with him? She shook her head, and turned to walk away.

She got a mere two steps away when he caught her by the wrist. She stared at the place where his fingers clung to her, too stunned to say anything at first - but within seconds, she snapped out of it, and snatched her arm away. "What do you think you're doing?"

His eyebrows tugged together in the middle. "Did I say something wrong? Where are you going?"

She blinked at him, searching his face. "Are you drunk?"

"Maybe a little," he mumbled. "So? It's a party."

She shook her head, and took a deep breath. "Well, that explains that," she sighed, mostly to herself. When she started to step away again, he followed, so she huffed and sat down. While it wasn't an ideal spot, she wouldn't hear the end of it if she left the party, and it was obvious Scorpius wasn't giving up. "What do you want from me, Malfoy?"

Polished shoes shuffled across her vision. "I thought...we could be friends again."

She barely heard him. For a second, she thought (hoped?) that she'd heard wrong. Her eyes remained stubbornly focused on his shoes; his face had proven to be dangerous territory. "We were never friends." The sentence didn't come out as harshly as she'd hoped.

His silver eyes stayed transfixed on her face. "I thought we were."

"No, we weren't," Rose hissed. "We were enemies, and then rivals - with a friend in common, sure, but rivals nonetheless - and then we were..." A lump dared to settle in her throat. "Merlin, I need a drink," she muttered, and looked away, content to leave the conversation at that.

Still, he wouldn't walk away. Instead, he floated a firewhiskey over to her. When that wasn't enough to get her to look at him, he knelt down in front of her - or tried to. He teetered a bit too much, and ended up falling on his arse; yet he didn't seem to care. He just sat there, on the floor of the Slytherin common room, staring at Rose Granger-Weasley and waiting for her to meet his eyes - or at least take the drink.

She finally did the latter, at least. They sat in silence for a while, while Rose downed her drink (the faces she pulled were for another reason entirely, but she'd blame it on the firewhiskey), and Scorpius tried not to show how torturous the wait was. Somewhere in the background, there was what sounded like a small explosion, then a round of cheers. Finally, she spoke, and he had to lean in to hear her over all the noise. "We were something - something that was only almost anything at all - and then we were nothing." He flinched. "You tried to kiss me, and then you left, and it was over before anything even began. You disappeared. You wouldn't respond to any of my letters- I was worried sick, you know that? I thought something had happened, only then I found out you'd been writing Albus all summer. And then school started back up, and you were engaged. _Engaged_. And you wouldn-"

"I never got any letters," he interrupted, reaction time a bit delayed. She faltered.

"You- what?" she breathed. After a couple seconds of eye contact, during which silver eyes swam with far too much for her to decipher let alone handle, Rose shook her head. "No- you know what? That doesn't matter. It doesn't, because you still said nothing. All summer, nothing. All last year, nothing. You ignored me. Acted like I didn't exist, and-"

"-You ignored me, too-"

"-you're still _engaged_!" Because the party was so rowdy, her shouting only drew a few looks. Still, that was a few too many. "Bloody betrothed." He lifted his hand to take hers, but thought better of it when her eyes finally shot to his, and he wasn't present enough to see past the anger in them. "So, no, Malfoy, we can't go back to being friends, because we never were, and we can't go back to-" She choked. For Merlin's sake, she choked. Why were her eyes stinging? "So we can start over, enemies or friends-of-friends, or we can stay nothing but bloody co-Heads, but that's it. Okay, Malfoy? That's it. Because it's too late. It's too late, and I bloody hate you." It sounded like a lie, even to her ears. That settled it; she needed to get out of there.

She dropped her cup on the floor and speed-walked out of the room, Wood be damned.

Scorpius remained slumped over in front of that empty chair until Albus came to 'drag his sorry arse to bed,' which mostly meant snapping his fingers in front of his face until some semblance of consciousness reentered the blond's eyes, then helping him to the approximate location of the Heads' Dorm's secret entrance.

* * *

For the next few weeks, Malfoy did his best to antagonize Rose. If they couldn't be friends, he was determined to rekindle their friendly rivalry. He did notice that Fred and Gwen seemed to encourage his behavior (the latter with far more subtlety), but he was so preoccupied that he couldn't be bothered to care why. They were helping him in his goal, and that was good enough for him.

Rose, on the other hand, was becoming more anxious by the day. She hardly slept anymore, thanks to upcoming N.E.W.T.s, Wood cracking down on Quidditch practices, Head Girl duties, and most of all, the fact that the others somehow always managed to team her and Malfoy together. He'd become insufferable, and though he hadn't brought up their mildly inebriated conversation, she had this nagging feeling that he was going to hold her rants over her head. It was enough to keep her tossing and turning throughout the night, even without admitting the way her chest and stomach seemed to betray her every time he managed to catch her off guard with that infuriating smirk, or those stupid glinting eyes.

Even if they hadn't mentioned the incident in the year since, it didn't mean they'd put it out of their minds. Scorpius sat in the Great Hall looking over a letter from his mother, but his mind was back in the potions classroom. Having been in the owlery earlier that day, he thought nothing of the scent of hay and cocoa that drifted into his nose. He chalked the ocean scent up to his imagination; after all, he'd just read the same sentence five times over because he couldn't get that memory out of his head. No, he was far too preoccupied to notice what went on around him right before he reached for his drink.

Rose, on the other hand, recognized it immediately. Relieved to be able to eat dinner in peace, she'd been perfectly content to focus on anything _but_ the prior potions incident. Specifically, she'd been working on her transfiguration essay; a task which had absolutely nothing to do with Malfoy. So, when the smell of grass and parchment and fire wafted into her nostrils, she knew exactly what it was. She stood before she'd fully processed the information, eyes searching the crowd until she saw it: amortentia. Not a large dose, but still, just enough for a single spiral of steam to escape the pearly liquid as it was poured into a glass across the Hall. Through the crowd, she couldn't tell who'd slipped it in - they were gone too quickly - but she was just in time to see whose cup it was. Scorpius's fingertips barely brushed the goblet before it floated out of his hand. While Rose sprinted across the Great Hall, he blinked at it in bewilderment.

He reached to catch it, but was cut off by Granger-Weasley's shout of "Don't drink that!"

Scorpius blinked at her, twice. "Why ever not?"

She slid to a stop and waved Headmaster Longbottom over. She moved her wand so the drink elevated a bit further off, well in view of the Headmaster. "Someone," she gasped out, then took a deep breath to steady herself before continuing, "has poisoned it. Well, sort of." As Longbottom came into hearing range, she looked between them. "Someone's just tried to slip Malfoy a love potion. Amortentia, too - strongest one there is..." she said the last bit quietly, knowing they all knew that already. For the rest of the conversation (brief as it was) Rose was in a daze. She let Headmaster Longbottom take over, knowing he could handle it, and wandered back across the Hall.

She's been on edge before, but now? She didn't want to wonder who could be trying to slip Malfoy amortentia. She didn't want to think about how she'd known it, either. In fact, at that point, she didn't want to do much of anything within her own head - it was becoming a dangerous place. Rather, she wanted to get her mind off it, off all of it. She needed to release some tension, and at least _try_ to forget about Scorpius Malfoy and the way his lips brushed hers one summer's day, what seemed like a lifetime ago...

She picked up her things, told her friends she needed to wash up, and left - only pausing to whisper in a certain blond boy's ear.

When Scorpius went looking for her later, Albus told her she'd gone to take a bath. He figured she'd be in the bathroom she shared with Gwen, but she was nowhere to be found, and from the looks of their dorm, Rose hadn't been there since lunch. Perhaps she was avoiding the Head's Dorm? He frowned at the thought, but kept moving. He had to find her; he told himself that it was simply to thank her.

Next on the list was the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor; he remembered that she liked the windows in there. With a mumbled password and a few steps, he'd found what he was looking for - but immediately regret it. Muffled moans froze Scorpius in his tracks. He should have turned back then, but he didn't, because what if it wasn't her? What if this was just bad timing, and some prefects were getting into trouble? He had to know, didn't he? He had to have hope, didn't he? He didn't pause to think about that too much, not quite ready to examine just what he might have been hoping for.

Around the corner, in the communal showers, he saw them. Rose Granger-Weasley with her red curls, darkened by the water, splayed out over her freckle-spattered breasts. Rose Granger-Weasley with her eyes closed and her bottom lip caught between her teeth, her chest heaving. Rose Granger-Weasley with one leg hooked over the shoulder over a man almost as pale and almost as blond as himself; and Lorcan Scamander, with the lower half of his face buried between her legs.

Scorpius wasn't sure what happened in his chest just then, but he was certain it wasn't something hearts were supposed to do.

When he burst through the door to Gwen and Rose's room, his mind was simultaneously blank and swimming with far too much for him to process. She looked up from her homework with barely enough time to realize who had walked in, before his lips crashed into hers. "Scor-" Gwen tried to pull back to ask what was wrong, but the way his face twisted stopped her.

She'd never seen him like this before. He kissed her harder than he ever had, and somewhere in there, she could swear she heard his voice break among a hoarsely whispered "I need you." In a moment of weakness, a moment of confusion, a moment of concern - most of all, a moment full of her impossible need to please everyone she loved - Gwendoline Avery took this half-broken man into her arms.

On the other side of the wall, Fred Weasley lie awake. He heard her called his name throughout the night; the wrong name, Scorpius's name. A large part of Fred wanted to leave, to run out and never see her face again. Yet the whole time, he found himself rooted to the spot. Even when Malfoy stumbled through the door in the darkness, Fred didn't move; he wasn't sure he even blinked.

When daytime came, once again, none of them would look at each other.

As always, however, that didn't (couldn't) last.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry to anyone who read this the first time I uploaded it. I finished the chapter, but somehow deleted it... I was so drunk at the time that I got frustrated and wrote a really lame summary of events, then posted it while half-asleep (and still drunk).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! I think there's only one more chapter left, and I'm hoping to have it posted by Wednesday night.

Concrit is always welcome. :)


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